


Look for the light

by booktick



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 06:29:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10679610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booktick/pseuds/booktick
Summary: A series of one shots for Firefly members: current, past, deceased.





	Look for the light

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own none of this franchise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I would recommend reading the "Note to Brother" artifact after this chapter. Or before it, if you want to know who David is referring to later in the chapter.

#1: David Michael Vigil

* * *

"What about Marlene?"

David lifted his head, only for the cracks of overworked joints to feed his ear. He had been up all night, had to make sure the list was finished on who was heading out of Boston--who was left anyway. He had broken one pencil an hour in and lost the makeshift sharpener an hour later. He had more of a nub now, placed on the table with his tags. He'd have to make sure to grab them before he left.

"Marlene said she's gonna find Robert herself." The Firefly replied. 

"She's gonna get hurt. Someone should have gone-" The dread puddled at David's feet.

"Marlene is the one who gives the orders, David. Let _her_ deal with Robert." 

Another moment of Marlene being the hero, huh? Marlene had to do it by herself. She needee a partner. She deserved a partner. Robert was no Tess but he was slippery than the Devil. Marlene needed a second pair of eyes. He could be that for her, if given the chance. No one should have to go through this world alone. 

"Marlene shouldn't be a martyr." David mumbled.

"No. Maybe not. But she's a survivor."

The secondary title defeated the purpose of the first. Marlene would die for this. They all knew it. He just wasn't so sure what would come along with it. Just how far was Marlene willing to push things. How far was she willing to use people? There were only so many smugglers. 

" _Fine_." David mumbled again, this time under his breath.

David was good at being ' _fine_ '. He was the expert of _fine_ s and _okay_ s. His passive aggressive tone could have resembled that kid's actually. He wondered if Ellie said shit in that tone to Marlene. Did Marlene just let it go? Marlene was the only one to call him out on it. But Marlene wasn't there. 

"You got the list, right? And the identification numbers?"

Marlene was a stickler for identification. He'd been around enough years to know a body without a name was not worth much. He didn't know if life was worth much in quarantine zones but he sure as hell wasn't sticking around to find out again. His numbers didn't mean much either in Boston unless it had a name attached to it. Then that'd get him a one way ticket to the interrogation room. 

"Yeah, I got the list. Just finished it." David nodded, scratched his jaw.

He had bags under his eyes, heavy as ever. His knuckles still torn from his round with a soldier in an abandoned warehouse. He had finished a run for Marlene. One brick later and it was one instead of two breathing. So much for quarantine zones being the safety net for the world. He'd need to find bandages if he could, something better than a torn scarf around them. He never trusted a guard saying they just wanted to talk anyway, not twenty years ago and not now.

"You just wrote it on _one_ notebook, right? Didn't leave any notes lying around for soldier-" 

"One paper. That's it." David replied.

"Good. Smart." 

Smart his ass, it was luck his belongings weren't searched. He had stuck to playing face in the quarantine zone. He did better at pretending he was something he wasn't. He could get information easier that way. Instead of ducking for cover five seconds and blasting his way about.

He could get rations, get a real bed and play it safe. Sure, this came with restriction but with his job he needed to have better chances. The quarantine zone was tolerable when he acted like the everyday man for guards. Outside the walls, the world didn't care structure or restrictions. 

As for the quarantine zones themselves though, they were just another breather, at the start. Take a breath and move on but he'd been breathing in Boston for a few years. He had been taking a breath for at least two months when they first got there. He didn't need the rest of them thinking he was rusty, a loose end if things got bad. He had to be useful, so he did errand runs for Marlene most of the time. 

He had took a few travels outside in the first couple of years at Boston, a few exchanges and drop offs. He tried not to go too far from the walls, maybe a city or two away--three was pushing it. Not like before Boston anyway. He was younger then, quicker on his feet--optimistic. He didn't want to be that guy who made it sound like all oldies are bitter old fucks but he was getting there well enough. And this whole cure idea Marlene whispered about...

David never expressed his doubts to Marlene, on that kid she had her hopes dug into. He did as he was told. Marlene said join the Fireflies, so he joined the Fireflies. Marlene said come to Boston, he marched his ass to Boston. He wanted to survive after all. Was this survival? He looked around himself from time to time to check. 

This place, this was supposed to be a harbor for possibility and opportunities Marlene had told them. Marlene had brought him and Marlene was the one that was going to get him out. He was not going to end up kneeling outside a broken down building being scanned and shot down. He had his eyes on the list, saw his own. This was his ticket out of here. 

"You even sleep last night?"

"Is it morning?" David yawned. 

"Afternoon."

"No, I didn't sleep." 

He rubbed his eyes with his palms before he lifted his notebook. He had a list of names scribbled out, had to shake his wrist a few times to dull the ache. The name on top of the list read as Marlene. He stood and handed the list over to the Firefly at the door.

"Shit, David. Marlene said you need to be at your best. If you fall asleep during a meeting or-"

"Can't really have meetings when there isn't enough to actually...have meetings." David interrupted for a second time.

He felt the scrape of the paper along his finger. The familiar sting reached them a moment later. He stuck one finger in his mouth when it bled. It came out with a pop. That would probably get his stomach cramping again. He had no idea what was safe to touch and what wasn't anymore. 

"Are you sticking around here until night or-?"

"I'll head out soon."

"Remember your mask. Shit's fuming further up in the building."

"Yeah, I know. Wear the mask. Just get the list to Marlene. She'll want everyone at the hospital, right?"

David watched as the Firefly left, list gone as well. He rubbed his palms at his shirt, tried to at least semi clean them. It didn't work either way. It only loosened the wrapping around his knuckles. He pulled both cloths off and tossed them in the corner. It wouldn't do any good anyway, he'd have to find a kit somewhere. Maybe the market had one. 

His brother would have wrapped them properly by now. Mark would have known how to get bandages. Mark and a group of Fireflies had traveled miles and miles to get just outside the quarantine zone's walls. The group waited outside the walls to meet the smuggler that was supposed to get them in. 

Marlene had hired a smuggler to get them, get Mark, in. He was starting to think it was Robert she hired but that would be useless. Robert stuck to walls, not grass. David had gone out on his own, gotten past the lights and patrols just to see his brother. David was good on his own but smuggling a whole group of Fireflies on his own...that was another story. He had wanted to be there as backup, second eyes or whatever.  

David's heart danced the whole time. He had headed back in, told Mark to come with. He could sneak him in. Marlene would understand. But Mark had insisted, remained with the group to wait it out. Marlene said Mark had gone on ahead already with the same group, instead of coming into Boston at all, already heading for the hospital. It was better that way, she had said with a smile and pat to his shoulder. 

Mark hadn't been to Boston...well, not since before the Outbreak. Things had changed but Mark had wanted to come in a few months ago. His brother got a transfer and Marlene was going to welcome him in like the rest. David was happy at the idea, first time in a while. He'd have Mark back at his side. They'd see each other later, his brother was a survivor. 

His brother was good at being resourceful. David knew he should have told Marlene he wanted to send a message forward to Mark anyway. He should have let Mark know he would be joining up with him soon. He could get to the hospital, help Marlene and protect Mark. It'd be okay. They'd be okay.

His knuckles though...he wasn't so sure about those. They'd probably need stitches the more he looked at them. He hadn't realized how hard he hit the guard until afterwards. Not even after they split, his insides had vibrated. He had only realized there was red when he went to wipe his mouth off later in the room. 

"Well, shit. Come on, David," he waved his hands in front of his eyes "These hands aren't going to heal themselves."

David decided neither he nor his hands would have a witty comeback. So he checked his jokes at the door for the moment. He would have to bring at least a gun as he went through the rest of the building. It could be crawling with runners, there hadn't been a sweep in some time. The building or him would take them down though, with how the walls trembled and floorboards split with each step. 

It'd be one hell of an anticlimactic end for him though. Death by bookcase.

He groaned as he pushed his palms against his knees and stood. His back didn't appreciate his effort, joints cracked and popped again. He stretched the best he could, exhaustion peeled his confidence away and he was left with contempt. He knew he should have stuck with Marlene.

David reached at the table blindly. He grabbed his mask and headed to the foor. His tags remained beside the pencil nub. His gun was lifted from the mattress he had sat on. He put the mask over his face and held his gun in his hand. The hair on his hand stood up as goosebumps spread over them. 

As he walked out of the room, the pencil nub rolled off the table onto the floor. Forgotten and left to collect dust. It was of no further use now. Another pencil would be sharpened and ran until it broke or dulled. Marlene would find another and another...it couldn't be for nothing after all. The kid's words, or was it Marlene's? 

He walked down away from the caged room. He was not quite out in the open, still trapped by the walls that could have caved in at any moment. He would have to watch where he stepped. He didn't need to trip over his own two feet. The floor would be a pain to map out with how dark it was in the building. He didn't even have a working flashlight. 

"Fuckin' air..." he coughed behind his mask, forgot to question why the mask let him.

Another thought was sewn into his palms. He even laughed behind his mask at it. He had told himself jokes would be on the back burner until he got to Marlene, maybe until they reached the hospital. But hell if he wasn't grabbing for straws. He wanted to have just one good laugh, to be able to let the breath out before he finished up. The floor cracked as he moved past dust covered cubicles, faded pictures in cracked frames. 

Maybe it wouldn't be death by bookcase.

Now death by filing cabinet? That'd be one for the folders. 


End file.
